Monochrome
by PurificationArrow
Summary: AU, Syusuke is a young boy, living comfortably with his sister. Tezuka is a wanderer on a journey to search for someone. One day, Fuji's sister throws him from their home and tells him, "See the world." He meets Tezuka, and an unwanted love story begins.
1. Tess Arc

_February 28/29, 2009_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince of Tennis.

**Title:** Monochrome

**Rated:** M

**Summary:** AU Perfect Pair: Syusuke is a young, wealthy boy, living comfortably with his sister. Tezuka is a wanderer, on a journey to search for someone. One day, when Fuji's sister throws him from their home and tells him, "See the world." He meets Tezuka, and an unwanted love story begins.

--

_"Syusuke, tell me something."_

_"Hm?"_

_"Would you...like to see the world?"_

_"...what?"_

_"It has come to my attention that you should go out and experience things. A life here is far too sheltered, and it would certainly do you some good to see what goes on outside the mansion."_

_"...Pardon?"_

_Yumiko rose to her feet._

_....._

_"Ah!"_

_"Go on now, Syusuke. Go and see the world."_

--

Syusuke stared at a trickling fountain, listening to the playful sound of tumbling water. Occasionally, a few droplets would fall from the fountain and kiss the ground gently.

"Go out and _'see the world'_, nee-san says," he mumbled to himself. "I guess...I've just gone on a very long vacation."

Syusuke looked about him at the people walking around the town square. The shops were busy, with people of the city walking in and out of them, carrying purchased items or small children.

Syusuke ran a hand through his hair and continued to murmur pointlessly, "I wonder what I'll do about food and water. Shelter too. I guess money might also be an issue..."

Then, he shrugged and hopped off the bench. He began to walk towards a tunnel leading out of the city.

"No point in worrying about it, I suppose. Better leave, though. Nee-san might get mad if I stay around in town." Syusuke mused. "Even so, it would be nice to get someone to travel with, since I don't know how long I'll be out...here..."

The scene in front of Syusuke was quite strange indeed.

A man was on the ground, glaring defiantly at the one who stood over him. The former's clothing was slightly dirty, and his hair could use some work. The latter had messy brown hair, and cold, golden eyes that contrasted with the tone of his hair. This person held a gun that was black as ebony and had a sleek shape like its bearer.

Fuji smiled. _Good enough_. He decided and began to walk forward. But this time, with real purpose.

"Hey, you. Would you like to come with me?" he asked.

The man with the cold golden eyes turned his head a fraction of an inch to look at him.

The other saw his chance and quickly scrambled to his feet. He dashed away speedily, shouting behind him, "Thanks for saving me, miss!"

Syusuke stared at his back and huffed a little, "...I am _not_ a _'miss'_." Then he looked at the man with the black gun again.

_This guy...standing in a tunnel in broad daylight, holding a gun. How weird. But..._

The man turned the gun towards Syusuke. His eyes remained on the spot where his prey had been, almost as if in remorse--which Syusuke would have thought to be the case, except for the fact that there was no emotion on the man's face at all.

_He looks like.... a rebel, with a frighteningly calm expression, gold eyes, and an unbeatable poker face._

"What do you want?" the man asked again, shifting his eyes in Syusuke's direction.

Syusuke sighed and looked to the side.

_What a boring expression, however..._

"Then, I've decided." Syusuke said in a final voice. The man's gold eyes narrowed. Syusuke raised his hands in the mimicry of a gun, and pointed them at the other man's ebony weapon. "You can come with me, and I'll see if I can change that boring expression of yours."

Then, Syusuke grinned and opened his cerulean eyes a crack.

"Bang." He said.

---

Syusuke laughed. "Sorry about that. You can go ahead and eat as much as you like." He said to the gold eyed man sitting across the table from him.

"...do you even have money?"

Syusuke shrugged his shoulders. "No, I don't. But the owner of this restaurant owes me a favor, and he said to go ahead and eat my fill."

"...and mine?"

Syusuke smiled slyly. "He isn't here at the moment. He won't know."

The other man stared at him for a moment, and then picked up his utensils and began to eat. Syusuke leaned back in his chair and felt the sun warm his back through the window. At the table next to him, sat a group of villagers, eating and grumbling something about a bandit who lived in the woods bordering town.

Syusuke just pushed the thought to the side. His mind shifted to the matter at hand.

_I say that now...but how am I going to earn money and pay for food later on?_

"Kunimitsu, how do you earn money to survive?"

The fork touched the plate. "Don't call me that."

"Eh? Well, why not? You said your name is Tezuka Kunimitsu. I'm just calling you by your name."

"It is _just_ Tezuka."

Syusuke frowned and twirled his fork lightly in his hands. "If you insist. Then, _Tezuka_, how do you earn money?"

Tezuka paused a moment to think. "I usually threaten people who look like they have money into an alleyway." He replied, and took a bite.

"That's terrible." Syusuke said, without any real conviction.

"You don't sound like you're objecting to it." Tezuka retorted.

"I'm not," Syusuke said with a small shrug. "I would just prefer a different way."

Tezuka looked at him and began to eat again. After a couple more bites, he continued without looking up. "You can also gamble if you're experienced."

This elicited no response from Syusuke.

"Odd jobs are the last method."

"...Those are our only options?"

Tezuka wiped his mouth with a napkin and folded it back into place. "There is nothing else."

Syusuke sighed.

_In other words, he isn't willing to work at an actual job. This man...he really is a true criminal._

Minutes later, Tezuka was finished, and he and Syusuke stood. A waiter came over and bowed, "Thank you for your patronage, Fuji-sama. Would you like me to tell Oishi-san that you stopped by with a friend?"

Syusuke smiled and looked at the mountain of plates on the table.

"No need," he replied. "Just tell him he doesn't owe me a favor any more."

By then, Tezuka was already gone. Syusuke sighed and went out as well. The first sight that greeted him when he got out was not a pleasant one. Tezuka was grasping a man with his collar and had shoved him against the wall of an alley. In his hand was a blue wallet.

"Tezuka, what are you doing?"

"He gave this to me. Willingly."

The terrified look on the other man's face told Syusuke otherwise. He frowned. "That's only because you threatened to blow a hole in his head."

Tezuka just gave him a look that said, "So?" So Fuji sighed, "Give that back."

Tezuka did not acknowledge the order, but fixed the other man with an icy stare. "Where else can we find a good salary?"

Syusuke sighed and rested his weight on one leg. At least Tezuka had another motive...sort of.

The man being held captive by Tezuka stuttered in fear, "T-t-there's a man who lives in a mansion just down the road from here. He can give you a job if you ask him. It will definitely pay more than what is in my wallet now."

Syusuke stood up straight. "That's good enough. Let's go see this man about the job."

Tezuka, after a pause, released his captive and tossed back the wallet. A whimper of fear behind him told Syusuke the poor soul had run off down the alleyway, vowing never to go within five yards of an alley.

In the distance was said mansion, equpped with a bridge, sentries, and the whole works.

It looked incredibly expensive.

Syusuke smiled. But in this case, the more expensive a home looked, the better.

_Maybe this journey nee-san sent me on won't be as bad as I thought._

--

Tezuka and Syusuke were shown in by a well-groomed butler, and introduced to a man who called himself Hiromaru Oujo. A man in his 50's with greying hair and a pair of spectacles, like Tezuka.

The moment he and Tezuka had entered the room, they were given their assignment.

"A band of thieves are wreaking havoc in the forest just outside of town. They don't come near town for some reason, but anyone who goes into the forest--merchants, civilians, passerbys, they are all attacked and stolen from by the thieves. This town doesn't have the resources to pull together a military and wipe them out, so we rely on people like you. Eradicate them, and you will be rewarded greatly."

Syusuke nodded, and touched his chin with two fingers.

"I see. And the band of thieves....who are they led by?"

The man frowned, and stared into the fireplace. "A woman by the name of Tess. She and her crew of thieves have been plauging the forest for a long time."

Syusuke bobbed his head up and down silently.

Hiromaru whispered, almost silently, "Such a malevolent woman."

"Saa....I wonder if she is so malevolent, as you say, because of someone else."

The man's head jerked up. Syusuke noted that in his eyes, there was the sharp glint of fear. Syusuke's eyes narrowed as he pressed on, "The one who won't let this Tess woman out of the forest...is you, isn't it?"

The glint increased, "Why are you asking me this?"

"What other reason would you have for mysteriously wanting a band of thieves gone? Why couldn't you have called in the military by now? Why isn't the town in an uproar? Or rather," Syusuke's cerulean eyes caught the moonlight and glowed. "Why can't you use your guards to go in and exterminate them? After all, all these people are are just a band of lowly bandits. Surely you can afford to use this incredible security you have to get rid of the issue yourself. Or is it that...you're scared of the bandits coming after you? Therefore, for you to be going to such extents to get rid of these people, this can be the only reason."

Hiromaru stared at Syusuke for a moment, and then scoffed, "How interesting. I was hoping that a foreigner like yourself would not be able to figure it out. You are a brilliant little boy."

Syusuke glared at the man.

"While this might be true, I have my reasons for doing so." There was a barely audible tremble in his voice.

Syusuke smirked. He walked towards the closed door, and Tezuka followed, a silent shadow, "Oh, I see now."

Hiromaru breathed a startled breath.

"You're afraid, aren't you? That thing you must have done...it must be really terrible for you to be this scared of a _woman_ and her bandits."

Anger blazed in Hiromaru's grey eyes. "Silence! You should simply do as you are told, and not ask questions!"

Syusuke whirled around, a cold, strange light glittering in his eyes. They seemed to light up the dark room even more than the fire.

"I would, but I am a curious person." Fuji said, slowly lowering his lids again, "You don't need to worry though, because we won't mention this to anyone." Tezuka opened the door, and Syusuke followed, "Getting rid of the bandits. That is my job."

The door shut behind Syusuke and Tezuka, and silence reigned in the room. The man rose from his arm chair and crossed the room to the window. Outside, two figures were making their way from the mansion back to town.

Fear gave fire to Hiromaru's eyes.

Behind him stood three people--the butler, and two other men.

"Kill them."

The butler nodded, and raised his hand to the two burly men. They also nodded, bowed, and exited through the door.

--

Tezuka gave a sidways glance to Fuji who wore a smile on his face.

"How exactly do you plan to get rid of this bandit woman?"

They passed into the border of the forest, and the shadows threw distortions of sunlight across their faces.

"Saa..." Fuji mused.

Then, shadows leapt from the shadows themselves, and landed on the ground. Tezuka and Fuji's faces reflected off of the glint of steel. A woman's low, hard voice called out from one of the figures. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"...I have no idea." Syusuke said quietly to Tezuka.

Tezuka just sighed and let a hand drift to his ebony gun.

Syusuke reached over and stopped Tezuka's gun hand.

Tezuka fixed him with a cold, mute stare. Why not? He reasoned. The bandits were the issue, and it was their job to eradicate them, as they had been instructed to do. However, the look in his new partner's eyes stopped Tezuka. He was a man who survived on mostly basic instincts--staying away from dangerous places, taking shelter, and the like. But staring into this boy's eyes, something inside the golden-eyed man told him to obey.

From the moment Tezuka and this child had met, Tezuka knew there was something odd, something peculiar about him. The boy himself was an enigma, like gray, his fake smile was dangerous, like black, and his eyes cast a light through everything, like white.

Slowly, Tezuka's gun hand lowered, and he let Syusuke take the initiative, as a woman, swathed in cloaks and robes suddenly appeared from the shadows. She was close enough for Tezuka to see that her eyes were a strange shade of murky brown. Her bangs hung low over her eyes and appeared black in the shadow of the forest. She had a slight figure and looked as though she were no more of a threat to someone than Fuji.

"Who are you? What is your business here?"

Tezuka noted the defensive tone of the woman's voice. Someone with the character of a bandit would not have such a defensive sounding voice, as if she had something to be afraid of.

The bandits surrounding them looked completely identical, and the pasty color of their skin made them seem untangible.

"Are you Tess?" Syusuke asked, stepping towards the woman. He showed his hands which held nothing that could be of concern.

"...I am." Tess replied carefully. "What manner of business do you have here?"

Syusuke stared long and hard into her eyes, then he gave an oddly bright smile. Tess blinked in confusion. "W-what?" she snapped.

Syusuke's eyes remained unblinking as they stared at Tess, as though seeing into her soul. It sent goosebumps up and down Tezuka's arms. "You are being retained here, aren't you?" the boy asked. "That man, Hiromaru won't let you leave, will he?"

Tess scoffed and looked away, laughing. The other bandits that surrounded them also laughed.

"Of course not, you fool." Tess said, "We stay here to rob any and all passerby's of valuables, because that is what bandits are supposed to do." She began to laugh again, but this time it was more forced than anything else.

Tezuka looked to Syusuke to see how the boy would handle this. Syusuke's continued to stare at the woman. During the whole time, he hadn't blinked. The set of Syusuke's eyebrows told Tezuka he was pitying this woman.

"Why do you continue to defend him?" Syusuke's voice was endearing and almost helpless. His eyes swept over the bandit woman. "You are in love with this man, aren't you?"

Tess fought back more chuckles as she turned towards Syusuke. The look in her eyes was one of pain. "And what of it? What is it to you?"

Syusuke nodded quietly to himself. He looked once more to the bandit woman, Tess, and then looked no more. He had seen all he needed to, and he was unimpressed. This woman was just another sad case of a promise gone unfufilled.

_"Forever, Syusuke."_

_A warm hand held Syusuke's._

_"I love you, and I swear, we will be together, forever."_

"Then if I am correct, the only thing keeping you bound here is nothing more than a promise."

_"I'm sorry I have to leave, but I promise, Syusuke. I'll come back for you. Just stay here and wait."_

Syusuke took the woman's silence as a confirmation and deemed her completely pitiful.

"Then you should know that he is never going to come back to you. Whatever it is he said to you is and always will be an utter lie." Syusuke said, and when Tess's eyes flashed, he interrupted her before she could speak. When he spoke again, his tone was critical. "You know it's true. What other reason would you have for lingering in the world of the living long after you had died?"

Tezuka, who had been standing with his eyes shut opened them wordlessly. The bandits were all vanishing. Their pasty skin grew more and more translucent until they disappeared altogether. All those bandits had been were fake phantoms, created by Tess to provide a means to create fear.

Tess sighed and her head dipped. Her entire form grew translucent as well, and her black hair grew silvery.

"My. I had never expected someone to figure it out." She laughed dryly.

Tezuka looked to Syusuke. Syusuke's expression was unfathomable, and within his eyes swirled a mix of feelings Tezuka found it difficult to comprehend.

"Tell me what happened then."

Bags under Tess's eyes made the ghost of the deceased woman look weary. She sighed.

"...very well."

--

Tezuka kept an eye on Syuske from his peripheral vision. They had left the forest just as it was getting dark, and Syusuke, at this point, seemed to have reverted back to his original self. A little smile decorated the boy's face as they walked side by side.

"You knew from the beginning she was a ghost."

It was not a question; it was a statement.

Syusuke nodded. "I did. I figured that something like a doomed love story couldn't happen between people like that, there was more to it. It just so happened that the piece that was missing was a time gap of about 20 years."

"You knew that that woman couldn't leave because of the promise she had made."

_"Forever, Syusuke. We'll be together forever."_

Syusuke shrugged his shoulders and looked away. "How stupid. If that had been me, I'd have killed him."

Tezuka walked on silently as Syusuke continued.

"No matter how much he would have begged for his life, I would ignore his excuses."

_"I'm sorry I have to leave, but I promise Syusuke..."_

Tezuka turned his head a fraction of an inch to look at Syusuke, whose eyes captured the light of the moon and were glowing. He watched the shorter boy, quiet and contemplative. Syusuke's voice had dropped an octave, giving depth to his words.

"He would suffer and regret having left me, and he would continue to suffer and regret until his last breath." Syusuke finished, his voice fading to silence.

Then, Tezuka stopped abruptly. He had heard enough.

"Fuji."

Syusuke turned to him, his eyes were light, as if the weight of his previous words had not affected him in the least. "Hm?"

"Have you ever been betrayed?" Tezuka asked.

Fuji blinked, startled. "What do you mean?"

"Has someone you trusted and loved, abandoned you and deserted you without rhyme or reason? Have you ever experienced anything like that?" Tezuka asked.

_A cold wind blew through Fuji. But he barely felt it._

_"I promise, Syusuke. I'll come back for you. Just stay here and wait."_

Syusuke looked at Tezuka, and then away. His bangs shielded his eyes, and kept Tezuka from seeing the hurt and remembrance in them. "No." He replied, smiling fakely.

Tezuka paused, and then walked towards the hotel they were staying at.

"Then," he said and opened the door to the hotel. "Don't go around saying things like that if you have never experienced it. It's not pleasant to listen to."

The door slammed shut with a bang of finality.

--

**(A/N:)** Thank you for reading. For whoever has watched the anime, Hatenkou Yuugi, based off of the manga Sparkle, some of this may have seemed odddly familiar. But obviously, there are things that are different about it.

This fanfiction was created to commemorate Fuji Syusuke's non-existent birthday. Happy birthday, Fuji!

_**Next time**: the conclusion of the Tess Arc, and further insight on Fuji and Tezuka's mysterious pasts._

_"Syusuke, you know I would never hurt you. You know I could never leave you behind."_

_--_

_Sincerely,_

_-PurificationArrow_


	2. Tess Arc Finale

**Monochrome**

**Word count: 2,424**

**-**

"Such beautiful eyes..." A figure whispered.

"Such _sad_ eyes..." Another continued.

"Those eyes..." The first said.

"We will break them." The second finished.

"You will break what?"

The figure turned to the voice, their faces cloaked in blackness.

Another man stood atop the buildings of the city, chin resting in his fingers. He smirked in an over-confident, cocky way, lowering his hand to his hip where an ivory revolver rested. White tailcoats floated in the darkness, turning the man's hair a silvery moon color.

"Ore-sama hopes you aren't speaking about my Syusuke-kun. Because, you realize..."

The gun was cocked.

Atobe Keigo smiled cruelly.

"That would make Ore-sama_ very_ unhappy."

The dark men bent their knees, lowering their center of gravity.

Atobe continued smiling, with his gun extended towards the figures. His gaze did not move from the men, but he began to speak, "Should I kill them, Syusuke?"

Syusuke leaned against Atobe's leg, moonlight glinting off his eyes. They were cold and unamused as he stared his assasins down. They fidgeted uncomfortably against the boy's unblinking gaze.

After a while, Syusuke gave a dismissive grunt and stood.

"Get rid of them."

Atobe grinned ferally. "Acknowledged."

--

Tezuka watched the slight slump in Fuji's shoulders as they saw each other in the front of the hotel the next morning. The boy his hid fatigue well, Tezuka granted him that much. But it was obvious that Fuji Syusuke had been up to something last night.

"Are we heading back to the forest, Tezuka?" Syusuke asked.

"Hn." Tezuka responded.

"My choice, you say?" Syusuke chuckled, looking at Tezuka from out of the corner of his eye. "Well, all right. If Tezuka insists."

Syusuke then made a show of trying to seem as if he were seriously considering his options.

Tezuka knew he wasn't, because they _didn't_ have any options. The only road they could take now would be to complete their job and excercise the ghost and collect the money. Whoever this deceased bandit woman, Tess, was, it would be far easier for her to just pass on instead of continuing to live and feel sorry for herself because she was betrayed.

Tezuka's gaze shifted over to Syusuke, who was still mumbling to himself cheerily.

He wasn't interested in the boy's past...he wasn't at all. It was just...bothering him.

This child he was now going to be traveling with couldn't be more than fifteen years old.

Normal children his age didn't have the well-shaped body of an athlete, a mind as mature as the devil himself, and eyes that Tezuka had never seen a parallel to.

It was odd and disturbing at the same time. It made Tezuka wonder just what kinds of things had this boy gone through?

"Tezuka, are you coming?"

Tezuka looked up. Syusuke had gone several yards ahead in the direction of the forest, waving to him wildly.

As he began to head after Syusuke, Tezuka made a failed attempt at holding the boy's gaze. Syusuke's eyes were constantly watching his surroundings, making him appear flighty. Syusuke, however, was the last person Tezuka would expect to be a flighty kind of person. As little as Tezuka knew him, 'flighty' was not one of the boy's traits.

The way Syusuke walked--no. It wasn't even a walk, Tezuka realized. The way Syusuke moved made it appear as if he were a cat--quick and agile.

Tezuka's frown intensified as he walked with the boy. Everything that Syusuke did seemed to provide Tezuka a reason to be suspicious.

What had happened in the past of the boy known as Fuji Syusuke?

The weight of Tezuka's gun reassured him. He followed Syusuke, maping out the fatal areas he could be shot if the boy was determined to be a threat to himself or his goal.

_"Good evening, Tezuka-kun. I have something I need to talk to you about."_

Tezuka couldn't see them, but he knew that under Syusuke's eyelids were a pair of blue eyes, the same hue that haunted his memory.

_"Tezuka-kun, I have some business I need to attend to. I will be gone for a while."_

Eyes with the same hue as the woman who destroyed his family, his life, and himself. A woman named--

_"Goodbye, Tezuka-kun."_

Fuji Yoshiko. Presumably, Fuji Syusuke's mother.

--

When Tezuka and Syusuke reached the forest, they found the ghost bandit woman, Tess, waiting for them. She did not seem surprised to see them, as if she were expecting them to show up.

Syusuke smiled amiably as he began to speak. "Good afternoon, Tess-san."

The woman nodded, her hair floating on some invisible breeze.

"Have you thought over what I told you yesterday, my lady?" Syusuke asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Tess stared at the ground quietly, and silently. "I have." She replied.

_It was dark, and the only sound that could be heard was the shifting of cloth._

_A young man and woman lay in each other's embrace, quiet and intimate._

_The woman looked up to her lover's face, with the moon making her bare breasts milky white. "Oujo, what are we going to do? You know our families don't approve of this. My parents are planning on taking me far away from here very soon."_

_The man held her closer. "I know."_

_"Oujo..." The woman cried. "I don't want to leave you."_

_Oujo nodded and rested his chin upon her head of ebony hair. "I know, Tessla. I don't want you to leave either."_

_Tessla pressed herself to her lover in a desperate attempt to become even closer to him. "Hiromaru Oujo...I love you."_

_Hiromaru Oujo stroked her hair. Hesitating just barely before replying. "I know."_

_"What are we to do?"_

_Oujo was quiet for a moment, and then he grasped Tessla's shoulders, pulling her back to meet her gaze._

_"Listen to me, Tessla--Tess. You must meet me just an hour before dawn arrives tomorrow morning. Meet me outside the forest to the west. I will be waiting there where we can go and be at peace with one another."_

_Tears rolled down Tess's face. She smiled. "Yes, Oujo. I understand. I will meet you there tomorrow."_

"Fuji Syusuke...you told me that Oujo...did not really love me." Tess whispered.

"I did."

"And it was because of him that I was attacked and killed by bandits?"

"It was."

"And...you told me that someone who would treat another human being in such a way deserves to die. Am I correct?"

"You are." Syusuke's eyes were icy cold.

"Then..." Tess looked up and met Syusuke's gaze. "Tell me what I must do."

Syusuke paused before smiling a terribly cruel smile.

_"How stupid. If that had been me, I'd have killed him."_

And he had not been lying. Anyone who would dare do such a thing to another person deserved to die. It was just as well that this bandit woman had finally seen the truth.

"I was hoping you would say that." Syusuke said. "Tezuka, you know what to do."

His words floated on empty air.

Tezuka had already gone.

--

Syusuke led Tessa down into the center of the village for the first time in twenty years.

Hiromaru's mansion loomed over the pair.

The moonlight that shone through Tess's transparent body was distorted, and the light bent in her thin image.

Syusuke stood outside the mansion calmly. There were no guards or butlers around to chase them off and attempt another assassination attempt. Atobe had seen to that. There was no longer anyone to disturb Tess when she went to finish what had begun twenty years ago.

He turned to said ghost woman. "Are you ready?"

She swallowed, even though there was no longer any need to wet her throat. She still did it because it was the only thing human to her.

Syusuke could see her nervousness and fear.

Part of him wished he could help. He understood her pain. The pain of loving someone. The pain of wanting someone. The pain of being left alone to die.

He understood her agony...which was why he could not offer his help. If she could not overcome this herself, there would be no point.

Without a word of confirmation, Tess floated off silently, ghost feet brushing the ground.

"You have ten minutes." Syusuke called after her.

When she was out of sight, he leaned against a pole, waiting.

"Preparations are complete."

"Well done, Tezuka." Syusuke praised, turning to Tezuka with a smile.

Tezuka just gave Syusuke a nod of confirmation and settled on the other side of the pole, content to wait for further instruction.

Minutes began to pass. And the two continued to wait for the signal from their spectral companion.

Below them, the town was quiet in the dead of the night. Streetlights gave off a steady glow and illuminated windows. There was one light, however, that flickered. It was the only type of movement in the otherwise sleepy town.

_On, off, on, off._

"Tezuka." Syusuke's voice was quiet and was barely commanding.

Wordlessly, Tezuka reached into his pocket. A button was pressed, and the sky exploded.

Fireworks lit the night sky in combustions of purple, red, green, and blue. Sounds and colors filled the air, and Tezuka could see lights in the townhouses flicker on. People looked outside, perplexed and awed at the interruption of their sleep.

Soon enough, Tess appeared from the doorway, looking quite pleased. Tezuka stood upright and watched an exchange between Syusuke and the ghost woman.

"All is well then?" asked the mastermind.

The corners of Tess' lips pulled upwards in a smile. "Yes. It is."

"Will you be going now?"

Tess looked back to the house one last time. The lights were on, and they could hear someone screaming in terror. Tess smiled to herself.

"Yes. I think I'm quite done here. It would be nice to have some rest after all this time."

Tezuka watched as a wry smile appeared on Syusuke's face. "You could have been having a very nice rest if you were able to just let him go." The boy commented offhandedly.

Tess' eyes narrowed dangerously, but she still managed a very small grin.

"...I suppose that's true."

Tezuka blinked, and Tess was gone, no more than a whisper on the wind.

Syusuke continued to smile dryly at the spot where Tess had been. Finally, he closed his eyes and turned around. Tezuka could have sworn he saw envy in the boy's cerulean irises.

But when Syusuke turned back to him, he was his normal self. All smiles and sweetness.

"Shall we go now?" he asked.

Tezuka looked to the house. "Our pay?"

Syusuke looked like a very naughty fox as he turned to face Tezuka. A sliver of his eyes could been seen from under his lids. He reached into his pocket and tossed a wad of cash at Tezuka.

He waved his own in the air, as if it were a victory flag. "Already collected."

Tezuka nodded and pocketed his money. How and when Syusuke had found the time to steal the money from the old man, Tezuka did not care to find out.

"Where are we going now?" he asked quietly.

Syusuke did not answer, and looked in the direction of the rising sun. An unfathomable expression that had placed itself on his face. He stared East for quite some time until he turned tail and began walking West, with his back to the light.

Tezuka followed him, becoming his silent shadow once more. But before disappearing down the hill, he turned once more.

Something lay in that direction that Fuji Syusuke wanted to avoid with all his being. Every fiber of Syusuke strained to go in that direction, Tezuka had noticed. But something else repelled the boy so much that he had turned and was now fleeing in the opposite way.

Tezuka turned, feeling the rising sun warm his back.

Further down the hill, a silver-haired man dressed in all white was walking beside Syusuke, speaking with him quite amiably. One arm was around Syusuke's shoulders.

A twinge lanced through Tezuka's chest. It was uncomfortable, and Tezuka confirmed that he was not familiar with this particular emotion. Dismissively, he passed it off as alarm at a potential threat and nothing more.

A potential threat?

No.

Nothing more?

Certainly not.

--

**(A/N:)**

I'm sorry for having the second chapter be so late. As for the next chapter, I will try and have it come out sooner. Also, please forgive the rating. I had meant for it to be rated T, and not M. Please excuse my blunder.

_Sincerely,_

_-PurificationArrow_


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